Category: News

THREE international high rollers are set to battle it out for the chance to buy their very own piece of the Banner County as interest hots-up on the 180-acre Mutton Island.

The island, which is located just half a mile from the Clare coast, has been owned by a number of high profile people since the departure of its last inhabitants in the 1950s and was even subject to a bid from The Beatle’s John Lennon in 1967. The Clare People understands that interest in the island is high with a number of solid enquiries coming from America and the Middle East. The island, which is home to a number of derelict building and a herd of wild goats, is likely to sell for less than the € 500,000 guide price.

The sale of the island is being managed by Philip O’Reilly Auctioneers in Ennis, who believes that it will take a person with “a lot of money and balls” to buy the island.

“We’ve had a lot of interest in the island. We’ve had a lot of interest from America, mostly from expats but we’ve also had interest from people in the Middle East,” Philip told The Clare People .

“At the moment there is nothing at all on the island but a herd of wild goats. But it is perfectly located, just a half a mile from the coast. You can see the island when you are teeing off of a lot of the holes down in Doonbeg and whenever I play down there people are always asking me what it is.

“It would take a person with a lot of money and balls to buy the island and at the moment there doesn’t seem to be someone like that in Ireland. But it is a great opportunity for someone – this is a 180-acre island which is likely to be sold for less than the asking price of € 500,000.”

While no official bid has been made for the island, The Clare People understands the there are currently three very interested enquires and a large number of others who have yet to show a formal interest in the property.

Planning permission for a tourism development on the island has been turned down in the past so and, according to Mr O’Reilly, the island is likely to be bought for a home rather than a commercial development.

SEVEN Clare people yesterday became the first unemployed people in Ireland to get a year-long job under the new Tús scheme.

The scheme, which is being ran under the supervision of the Clare Local Development Company (CLDC), will give unemployed Clare people a chance to get paid € 20 extra a month to take on a job at a community or social project around the county.

Two of the employees will be based at the offices of the CLDC itself, implementing the Warmer Home Scheme in the county and designing websites for a number of different community group around the county.

Other groups to benefit from the scheme yesterday are the Moyasta Community Group, St Pat’s Soccer Club in Kilmihil, Clare GAA at Cusack Park, the Tulla Soccer Club and the Kilkishen Development Association.

Workers at 11 more Clare organisations will begin next Monday, July 11, and a total of 100 places have been allocated to Clare in total.

Currently more than 104 community projects have asked to be considered for a work placement but, according to Jackie Bonfield of the CLDC, the organisation is desperate for people in North Clare and in the south east of the county to put their community group forward.

“The candidates for this scheme were chosen through random selection and we have been conducting interviews with 300 clients to determine what kind of work would suit them best. Someone might have worked in an office all their life but wanted to get into gardening – so we can try and match them with a group who needs gardening work done,” said Jackie.

“Even though we are already oversubscribed for with community group looking for workers, we are desperate to talk to groups in the North Clare area – from Ennistymon up to the Ballyvaughan area – and to people in the south east of the coun- ty; we have a shortage of community group in this area.”

Tús works by giving short-term quality work opportunities for the unemployed both in the community and voluntary sector. Each work placements will last for a 12-month period and the participants will receive an additional € 20 a week payment on top of their social welfare payment. The project was yesterday welcomed by Clare TD Michael McNamara (Lab).

“Work carried out by Tús must benefit the community. Participants will learn new skills and will also be able to apply the skills they already have to the work they will be undertaking,” he said.

A CLARE woman made history at the weekend when she was one half of the first two-person Irish relay team to swim the English Channel.

Maighread McMahon (33), who is from Kilmaley, and swim partner Lynsey Dunne battled fatigue, motion sickness, jellyfish stings and darkness to complete the swim from England to France in 13 hours and 53 minutes.

Accompanied by a pilot boat, the pair set off from the English coast at 9am on Friday morning. Alternating two-hour shifts in the water, the journey was eventually completed at 11.40pm when Dublin-born Sligo resident Lynsey climbed out of the water in France.

A jubilant Maighread told The Clare People yesterday that she was delighted to have been part of the record-breaking challenge. She said, “It was a long day but a good day.”

In crossing the channel, Maighread and Lynsey raised € 10,000 for the Irish Cancer Society. Most crosschannel swims are attempted in groups of six or as solo efforts. However, Maighread and Lynsey are believed to be the first Irish two-person team to complete the swim.

A former student of Killable National School and Coláiste Muire secondary school in Ennis, Maighread started training for the challenge last April.

She said, “I had been doing a lot of triathlons and swimming would have been my best event. So I said to Lynsey, would you be interested in swimming the channel?”

Training involved swimming six days a week in the seas around Ireland. Mairead, a quality manager with Diageo, explained, “It’s hard work when you are working as well. You have to do a lot of ‘carbing up’ to put on weight so you don’t get hypothermia.”

The rules of the challenge meant that Maighread and Lynsey could only be in the water for a maximum of two hours at a time.

Conditions may have been warm and relatively calm but the pair did have to contend with jellyfish.

Maighread said, “I got a few jelly- fish stings across the face. Some of them were really quite painful. But I thought, there’s no way a jellyfish is going to get the better of me.”

Despite temperatures hitting 29 degrees, Maighread had to stay well wrapped up while she was on the boat to keep her body temperature high. On board, she also had to fight the effects of motion sickness. However, the most dangerous part of the journey came right at the very end.

She said, “The tide changed and it was dark so you couldn’t see what was above or around you.”

Maighread is still in England, taking a well-deserved break. Now living in Carlow, she intends to take part in swimming events in Ireland and hasn’t ruled out the possibility of attempting a solo cross-channel swim. “I need to have a think about it. But after doing it, it would be fantastic to do it solo.”

THE young students and teachers from the Mol an Óige primary school in Ennistymon last week paid tribute to two German trainee students who have lived and worked in the town for free for the past 10 months.

German students Anika Fuchs and Johanna Hohn have spent the last 10 months in Ennistymon, immersing themselves both in the life of the school and in the workings of rural Ireland.

Both women have also been a huge help to the school, which is the fastest growing school in the county.

“They have been absolutely invaluable this year. This is the first time that we have had volunteer teachers from abroad and we are really happy with the way that it turned out. It was a big boost for the school this year,” said Sinead Barrett of the Mol an Óige school.

“Both girls had some experience before they came but I think they have both learned a massive amount while they were here. The girls were facilitated to come here by Léargas, who were able to fund a host families for the girls – which was a great way of helping them settle in and to learn more about the area.”

As well as immersing themselves in the school and the local area, the trip also allowed the girls to learn more about the Steiner method of education.

“I really wanted to work with children and to improve my English at the same time. The kids are lovely here so it was a good experience,” said Johanna.

“I live near Berlin so it was a big difference coming to the west of Ireland. But I really liked it here – I got to know the Irish culture very well and the landscape, so it was a really good experience. My time here was great and now what I want to do is study social studies back in Germany and work with children.”

Both girls say they have enjoyed their time in Ennistymon and will be returning to Clare again in the future.

“It is my dream to become a German and English teacher so I thought it was a good idea for me to come over and work in a school and get some good training,” said Anika.

“It was very nice here. I love the countryside in Clare and Ennistymon is a really nice town. The school has been very good. At first it was a little difficult, I had to get used to how things work at a Steiner school, but I love being here with the students and the teachers.”

LITTER laws are criminalising landowners rather than people who engage in illegal dumping, a meeting has heard.

Councillors yesterday backed a motion calling for the “Litter Act to be amended to state that where there is a reasonable doubt that landowners are not penalized for illegal dumping”. The motion was put forward by North Clare councillor Michael Kelly (FF). At yesterday’s meeting of Clare County Council, Cllr Kelly explained that farmers are being hit with enforcement orders when rubbish is dumped on their land.

He said landowners are now “guilty until proven innocent”. He said he was aware of one incident where a farmer’s fence was cut and a sofa and armchair were thrown in.

He acknowledged that Council staff are doing everything they can to stop illegal dumping but farmers and landowners are still being penalized.

Cllr Pat Hayes (FF) said he had received numerous complaints from landowners about illegal dumping and encampments.

“There has to be protection for landowners. A lot of litter was dumped in my field and I had to take responsibility for it.

Cllr Joe Arkins (FG) said Council staff had been successful in identifying culprits and removing “lorry loads of rubbish”. He added, “We should engage in dialogue before we get into business of enforcement.”

Cllr PJ Ryan (Ind) told the meeting that “there is only one thing to be said and that the Act has to be changed.” Cllr Joe Cooney (FG) called for the imposition of “stiffer penalities”. Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) described the current litter legislation as “bad law”. He added, “It criminalises the victim rather than the culprit.”

Cllr Gerry Flynn (Ind) said the majority of people are compliant with the litter laws. He said there are only two environmental wardens in the county. “They are doing the best they can but there are not enough resources,” he added.

Cllr Arkins urged greater promotion of the Council’s 24-hour confidential litter hot-line. He said the number should be marketed on all of the Council’s publications, stickers and biros. “Everyone should be a litter warden,” he added. Cllr Kelly said people engaged in dumping are more likely to throw rubbish onto other people’s lands in the middle of the night rather than the middle of the day. He added, “The wording of the act has to be amended.”

Director of Servce, David Timlin confirmed that the Council have two full time environmental wardens. He said that there were other members of staff designated to remove litter and carry out clean-ups of areas around Clare.

FOUR of Clare’s prime tourism hotspots will come together this Friday to launch a major new ticketing strategy, which they hope can attract thousands of extra tourists to the Banner county in years to come.

By using a special Burren4Group ticket members of the public will now be able to access the Cliffs of Moher, the Aillwee Caves, Caherconnell Stone Fort in Carron and the Burren Centre in Kilfenora for a fraction of the previous costs.

Several thousands copies of the special ticket will be circulated to hotels and guesthouse around Ireland, allowing anyone access to all four tourism location for just € 18 – a saving almost half on the non-ticket price to enter the four sites.

The initiative is designed to both attract tourist to the area but to also encourage the more of the 700,000 tourists who visit the Cliffs of Moher each year to stay overnight in the area or possibly for a number of days or a weekend.

“This really came about following the realisation that we are living in recessionary times and people don’t have the money to go to all the different centres. This is a combination of offering people good value but also offering them something really special. We have the iconic Cliffs of Moher, Aillwee, the fort in Caherconnell and ourselves, so you have a bit of everything that you might want,” said Frances Connole of the Burren Centre.

“Hopefully that this will get people to stay longer in the area and ultimately that is what all of this is about. This is not a day trip, we have so many great facilities here are there really is something for everyone.”

The scheme will be launched on a pilot basis by the Minister for Tourism, Michael Ring (FG) in Kilfenora this Friday. It is hoped that the ticket will be rolled out on a widespread basis should it prove to be a success this year.

“If this is successful, we build on that success in future years. We don’t want to rush into anything. At the moment the ticket is aimed only for individual travellers but down the road we will look at things like family tickets and things like that,” continued Frances. “It is just too early to roll that all out now. We need to float the idea and make sure that people will be happy with it and that it will work. It is a new project and a big innovation for this region so we need to be sure before we proceed. I think people will be interested in it though. This is about working together and networking together instead of always looking over the water and being in competition. It is a good idea and I think that people will like it.”

THE Banner County’s outstanding contribution to elected politics since the foundation of the state 90 years ago was celebrated at Clare County Council headquarters of Áras an Chláir last Friday.

Public represenatives, past and present, who spanned 70 of those 90 years were present to hear An Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore hail the county’s “historic contribution” to politics and a local, national and international level.

Deputy Gilmore made his comments as he unveiled a Roll of Honour chronicling the record of service of every elected member of Clare County Council, Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann since independence.

“This scroll of service clearly identifies the names and the times of service of those who were elected to local and central government doing the past 90 years.

“This is significant because of the historical contribution of County Clare, that public representatives have made in County Clare and elections in County Clare have made, right back to the time of Daniel O’Connell, through the 1917 by-election in East Clare right through all the elections we have had in the history of the State,” said Minister Gilmore. “Clare has produced a disproportionate number of statespeople who have contributed to the life and progress of our country – it’s something that Clare can be immensely proud of.

“Here we have the names of the people who have served County Clare in Dáil Éireann, in Seanad Éireann, in government, on the County Council. It is right that the role they have played and the service they have given to their fellow citizens should be formally recognised,” he added.

“This Roll of Honour underlines the unswerving commitment and loyalty to the democratic principle of public representation by the named individuals during this period of our history,” said Mayor of Clare Christy Curtin. “It’s a permanent record of the public service and duty to the Banner County and will be the inspiration for present and future generations of Clare people to participate and engage fully with the democratic process.”

“This Roll of Honour marks the commitment and dedication of a lot of people, who have not asked what their county can do for them, but for what they can do for their county,” said county manager, Tom Coughlan.

A LOCAL woman who managed to get photos of a funnel cloud in the outskirts of Kinvara last week, says that she never feared getting caught up in a dangerous tornado.

Amateur photographer Kit O’Sullivan managed to capture the rare funnel cloud as it came over North Clare and South Galway last Tuesday evening, June 21. It is still unclear if the funnel cloud touched ground – thus making it one of the first ever tornadoes recorded in the Clare area.

“Myself and my sister Mary were looking out the window, watching the cloud because we could see it coming in and we knew it was a thunder cloud. The next thing we saw the funnel come out of the bottom of the cloud – it shot down, about half way down the sky from the cloud.

“We though straight away that it must be a tornado – just from watching all these American shows at the moment about tornadoes. As it happened I had the camera with me so I ran out and got a few pictures of the cloud. It is very hard to tell for sure but it certainly appeared to me that the cloud was over land and not still over the sea.

“I never thought that I might be danger at all. God no, my first thought was to get the camera out and get outside and get a few pictures. I love watching the weather, I love thunder storms and things like that so I am always looking at the sky to see what is going on. It is better than television.”

Instances of funnel clouds and mini-tornadoes are becoming more common on the west coast of Ireland. Locals people also spotted a similar funnel cloud close to the airfield in Spanish Point earlier this year.

“The weather is certainly changing. If you look at the weather we had last week and then the weather we had on Friday and Saturday – you forget that we are in the month of June,” continued Kit.

“When you see the severe winters that we are getting, that we have never gotten before, I think that this is a clear sign that the whole ecosystem is upside down and the funnel clouds are just an example of that.”

More pictures of the funnel cloud are now available on www.irishweatheronline.com.

A CLARE doctor has discovered a new form of gene therapy which could more than double the survival rate and life expectancy of people who suffer heart attacks.

Ennis man John O’Sullivan has completed a successful clinical trails on pigs and has just been granted a € 1 million budget to roll out clinical trials on humans over the next four years. Pigs were chosen as their hearts bear a close medical resemblance to humans.

Should the human prove as successful as the trials on pigs – his research will be used to manufacture a commercial drug which could save hundreds of thousands of lives every year.

The therapy works by using a substance secreted from adult bone marrow known as IGF1 to help strengthen the inner lining of arteries while also helping to prevent damaged heart cells from dying.

“We delivered a very exact, very low, level of IGF1 to the animal after the heart attack and we looked at how this effected cell death in the heart and heart structure. We found that even at very low doses this substance caused a significant change in the signals being sent off by dying hearts cells half an hour after the heart attack had taken place,” he told The Clare People .

“After 24 hours we noticed a significant reduction in the level of cell death in the heart. We looked again after two months and found a significantly improved heart function and structure.

“This is very encouraging and we have secured a grant to take this forward to human trials which will be starting in a months time.”

John is pioneered his groundbreaking work at the Centre for Research in Vascular Biology in Cork alongside Professor Noel Caplice. They have secured € 1 million to roll out human trial in Cork over the next four years.

“If this is successful this will change everything – it will be taken up everywhere and who knows what will happen,” continued John.

“In our trials, we created heart at- tacks which damaged on average 40 per cent of the heart and the use of the IGF1 reduced the death of cells in the affected areas by a half. On a longer term basis we were able to return heart function pretty much back to normal.”

John, who is from Castlewood Park in Ennis, earlier this year became the first Irish-based researcher to American College of Cardiology Young Investigator Award, while he also won this year’s Outstanding Young Person award by Junior Chamber International Ireland.

OVER 5,000 this people are set to descend on Miltown Malbay and district from this weekend for the annual Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy music festival that’s worth an estimated € 5m to the local economy.

The 39th festival, which commemorates the famous Miltown Malbay musician who died in 1973, will be officially opened this Saturday night by Sean Keane of The Chieftans, while a host of marquee names in traditional music will attend over the course of the event that runs from July 2 to 10.

“The key to the success of the Scoil Samhradh,” says festival Co-Director, Harry Hughes, “ is that we have always tried to maintain an excellence in the tuition that we offer ever year.

“This year we have the likes of Martin Hayes who comes to the festival every year, Edel Fox, Paddy Glackin, Mick Mulkerrins, Kieran Hanrahan and Rip Epping, while photographer Tony Kearns, who has been documenting the school over a long number of years will deliver the Breandán Breathnach Memorial Lecture, An Eye for the Music, which discusses the relationship between photography and Irish traditional music,” adds Hughes, who founded the festival back in 1973 with Muiris Ó Rocháin and Martin Talty.

For the past number of years, the Tuesday of summer school week has been devoted to celebrating the life and work of a musician who has made a significant contribution to the Irish musical heritage.

This year the honour goes to Clare’s own Peadar O’Loughlin, the Kilmaley flute and pipe player, who is regarded as one of the masters of the musical tradition.

The Peadar O’Loughlin tribute takes place on Tuesday next and will feature contributions from his friends and fellow musicians, will be coordinated by piper and RT presenter and producer, Peter Browne.